Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva Rioja 2001 – 750ml Not specified

98pts Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

The 2001 Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva is the follow-up of the 1995. There is a sense of harmony and elegance, of nuance and subtleness that wasn’t quite the same in the Bosconia, as comparing both wines is inevitable. They started picking the red grapes the 15th of October, and the last grapes were picked the 29th of October with good weather. The grapes ripened properly and thoroughly, and the wine has great balance for a long aging in bottle. This is 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in their 153-year-old oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for 10 years. It has 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.4 and 6.4 grams of acidity (tartaric). The nose shows young (tasting it blind, you’d guess a 10-year old wine, not a 20-year-old wine!). It has a nose of sweet spices, underbrush and cigar ash, somewhat balsamic, bramble fruit with perfect ripeness, integrated and young but starting to show some tertiary complexity. The palate is velvety and medium-bodied, with fine-grained, chalky tannins denoting a limestone soil that brings finesse and texture and a sapid, tasty, almost salty finish. This is going to make a beautiful bottle of old Rioja in 30 years’ time!

97pts James Suckling

Wow. This is really something on the nose, offering ripe plums that are highlighted with old and used leather, walnut and cedar, reminiscent of the interior of a fine vintage sports car. Full-bodied with very fine tannins and delicious, ripe fruit that continues on for minutes. Tile and dark berry at the end. Still tight and fresh for the vintage. A great wine.

93pts Wine & Spirits

Combine old vines, traditional winemaking and the stunning 2001 season – then wait nine years. What you end up with is a wine built in four dimensions, the power and density of fruit rounded by time, the graceful hand of the winemaker capturing the season in subtle scents of rose and cherry-skin tannin. Everything about the wine is gentle while remarkably long, set to develop for another nine years or more. 

92pts Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar

(75% tempranillo, 15% garnacha and 5% each of graciano and mazuelo) Bright medium red. Expansive bouquet of musky red and dark berries, medicinal cherry, rose oil and Asian spices. Juicy raspberry and rose pastille flavors are framed by silky tannins and given a boost by zesty minerality. Packs a solid punch but comes off almost weightless. The tannins fade into the sweet fruit on the finish, which is strikingly pure and very persistent. Lovely right now. 

Winemaker Notes

Vibrant red color leading slightly towards amber.It has a light fresh texture with notes of vanilla and dried berry aromas. Rich, very dry, smooth, developed. Firm tannins and good balance. Goes well with all meat dishes however prepared.

A perfect partner to a Leg of New Season Welsh Lamb stuffed with wild garlic, rosemary and anchovies.

Blend: 75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacha and 5% each of Graciano and Mazuelo